A case filed on 5th October, 2022 in NY state court claims COVID-19 was created in a lab as a bioweapon to harm people and then intentionally released onto the public. The cause of action is negligence, gross negligence, assault and battery, wrongful death , strict liability and breach of warranty among others. The complaint [PDF] states:

1 This is a toxic tort personal injury action brought by the above-identified Plaintiffs, alleging inter alia, negligence, strict liability, breach of implied or expressed warranty, physical and emotional pain and suffering, wrongful death, and economic loss.

2. The Covid-19 pandemic could have been avoided.

3. Despite a moratorium on dangerous Gain of Function research – whereby, for example, a virus is genetically altered to become more transmissible in humans – Defendants engaged in such research, which ultimately exposed the entire world to a manipulated, highly transmissible and deadly lab-made virus and global pandemic, directly and proximately causing Plaintiffs’ injuries.

4. On March 13, 2020, Proclamation 9994 stated: “In December 2019, a novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS–CoV–2 (‘the virus’) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China, causing outbreaks of the coronavirus disease COVID–19 that has now spread globally.” 85 Fed. Reg. 15337 (March 18, 2020).1

5. In April 2020, President Trump proclaimed that SARS-CoV-2, also known as the Covid-19 virus, was released from a Level-4 Bio Safety laboratory (“BSL-4”) in Wuhan, China.

6. The aforementioned laboratory – the Wuhan Institute of Virology (“Wuhan Lab”) – was well-known to U.S. public health officials for its failed safety and lax security, as well as ties to the Chinese military.2 Exhibit “1” Photos of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

7. Since then, both an investigation and cover-up have continued with respect to the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, impeding effective countermeasures and strategies to control the release, mutation and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has directly and proximately caused Plaintiffs’ injuries prior to filing this action in this Supreme Court.

8. Plaintiffs allege the SARS-CoV-2 virus was designed and created at the Wuhan Lab in China, made possible through the research, development, and funding support provided by Defendants ECOHEALTH ALIANCE, PETER DASZAK, JANET D. 4. On March 13, 2020, Proclamation 9994 stated: “In December 2019, a novel (new) coronavirus known as SARS–CoV–2 (‘the virus’) was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China, causing outbreaks of the coronavirus disease COVID–19 that has now spread globally.” 85 Fed. Reg. 15337 (March 18, 2020).1

9. Defendants named herein and those to be identified through discovery are liable to Plaintiffs under strict liability tort law, which is applicable to the release of any ultra- hazardous substance into the environment, including organic substances, i.e., a genetically manipulated, lab-made virus.

10. Each Plaintiff named herein was exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the abnormally dangerous genetically manipulated coronavirus that was created, financed, designed, and released into the environment by the Defendants through their intentional and/or reckless acts, that have directly and proximately caused Plaintiffs’ and Decedents’ injuries, and/or death as set forth in this Verified Complaint.

11. Upon information and belief, Defendants concealed from Congress their knowledge of the origins of SARS-COV-2, to conceal the grant funding they had received from the National Institute of Health (“NIH”) was being directed toward “Gain of Function” research, and to conceal their violation(s) of the terms of a 2014 “exemption” obtained by EcoHealth, (waiving restrictions of a federal moratorium placed on Gain of Function research by President Barack Obama in 2014), said exemption enabled Defendants to continue funding the Wuhan Lab’s creation of the SARS- COV-2, directly and proximately causing Plaintiffs’ injuries.3 Exhibit “2” National Institute of Health letter dated October 21, 2014.

12. The Gain of Function moratorium applied to NEW rather than existing funding. Research funded in part by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through EcoHealth which we have termed “The SARS-CoV-2 Creation Project” was already underway at the time the moratorium was declared. Ralph Baric, who was conducting Gain of Function research conducted at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and in partnership with researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology petitioned the NIH biosecurity board for an exemption from the pause. It was subsequently granted.